Four months after the by-election that put the former police chief in office, everyone’s back on the campaign trail.

“This is totally unproductive,” he says. “As much as people can speak about democracy and all of that, which I highly respect, I think that this is all very opportunistic. It’s an attempt at power and control.”

Fantino, appointed secretary of state for seniors in January, was just settling into his new job when Parliament dissolved. Now he, like every other MP, is stuck lobbying his neighbours to send him back to Ottawa.

It’s a week into the campaign and Fantino, 68, is sipping a decaffeinated coffee on a 15-minute break from canvassing. Sitting in a coffee shop, the former chief of the Toronto police and commissioner of the OPP casts a much starker image than that of the smiling politician that adorns the countless fliers flooding his Vaughan riding.

He says he’s frustrated.

Frustrated by the political process. Frustrated by the Liberals. Frustrated that after just four months as an MP and three months in Stephen Harper’s cabinet, he is back campaigning, something he likens to “pounding the beat” — police talk for a foot patrol.

The first thing Fantino does when greeting many of his constituents, he says, is apologize for having to ask them to again vote in his favour.

He sums up the atmosphere in his riding succinctly: “People are fed up.”

And so is he.

As the Tory incumbent in a traditionally Liberal riding, Fantino is well versed in the party line. Ask him what the main issues are in Vaughan and he’ll sound them off like a Conservative message board.

“The economy is a major issue,” he says. That, along with “taxes, jobs, seniors’ issues (and), to some degree, public safety.”

As he recites issues he says affect his riding it becomes clear they have been hand-picked for his candidacy. Who better to stand for public safety than a former cop? Who better to represent seniors than the minister for seniors?

Four months ago, Liberals saw Fantino’s candidacy as an affront to the values of what they considered a Liberal stronghold.

“We can win Vaughan, we must win Vaughan, we will win Vaughan,” an ambitious Michael Ignatieff said in the lead-up to the November by-election.

Then the Liberals lost, by 1,054 votes.

Now they’re struggling to mount a resurgence in the riding. Bob Rae visited last week and Ignatieff is expected to drop by in coming weeks.

Still, the streets are awash with blue signs. Just last week, the former Liberal candidate, Tony Genco, publicly endorsed Fantino, heralding his ability to extract $10 million from Ottawa for a new Vaughan hospital.

New Liberal candidate Mario Ferri was still getting his headquarters set up a week after the election was called. Sitting in the unfinished office, flanked by five supporters and a guy with a mop, the career politician declared himself “all fired up.”

“We have a full platform that I think will excite people to come back and vote for the Liberals,” he says.

Ferri, who lost his seat as a regional councillor in the October municipal election, brings 25 years of public service to his candidacy, including stints as acting mayor and school board trustee. He believes he can defeat Fantino if he can energize traditional Liberal voters to get out to vote.

Voter apathy was at an all-time high for the November by-election, when only 32.5 per cent of eligible voters showed up at the polls.

“This is not really about Fantino,” Ferri says. “It’s the (Conservative) party’s vision for Canada that I have an issue with.”

Ferri says he looks forward to debating Fantino over the issues facing his riding and the country. But he probably won’t get the chance.

Fantino was accused of running a “peek-a-boo campaign” after he refused to take part in an all-candidates debate before the by-election. And he says the Liberals should expect more of the same this time round. “I’m not high on these debates,” he explains. “They’re all scripted anyway.”

Vaughan

Eligible voters: 122,669

Turnout in 2010 by-election: 39,516 (32.5% of eligible voters)

Turnout in 2008 general election: 56,906 (51.9% of eligible voters)

Current candidates:

Julian Fantino, Conservative

Mario Ferri, Liberal

Mark Pratt, NDP

Claudia Rodriguez-Larrain, Green

2010 by-election results:

Fantino: 19,290 (49.1%)

Tony Genco: 18,326 (46.6%)

Kevin Bordian (NDP): 661 (1.7%)

Rodriguez-Larrain (Green): 481 (1.2%)

2008 election:

Maurizio Bevilacqua (Liberal): 27,773 (49.2%)

Richard Lorello (Conservative): 19,390 (34.3%

Vicky Wilkin (NDP): 5,442 (9.6%)

Adrian Visentin (Green): 3,870 votes (6.9%)

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